The blue growth concept is an EU long-term strategy to support sustainable growth in the marine and maritime sectors. Seas and oceans drive the European economy and have great potential for innovation and growth.
PROMPT’s Mediterranean ports and maritime transport are the core of the Blue Growth concept, at the same time, they represent high-risk activities. This is even more true for Nations such as Lebanon and Jordan where port activities are not always supported by an equivalent growth in measures dedicated to contrast marine pollution. The blue growth concept is an EU long-term strategy to support sustainable growth in the marine and maritime sectors. Seas and oceans drive the European economy and have great potential for innovation and growth. The concept has started from the notion that maritime economic activities cannot only be captured through a sectoral approach. An industrial classification does not necessarily determine the maritime (as well as non-maritime) nature of an activity. It is the maritime contribution to achieving the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth.
As the strain on continental resources intensifies, the European Union (EU) looks to the sea as a serious alternative to relieve and bolster its economy. The European Commission has already published a strategy to harness the potential of the oceans in its Blue Growth initiative. The pressures of a growing world population and the demand for natural resources that entails should be taken as an opportunity to build a more sustainable future. The further exploitation of the oceans is no light matter. It represents an immense boon to sectors across the entire economy, including key European areas such as health, security, and energy. Therefore, the European institutions responsible for the health and security of the oceans must seriously consider the proper framework that allows industry to flourish while maintaining a high standard of sustainable development in line with the EU’s vision for a carbon-free society. Furthermore, the legislation that supports fisheries, energy, and other extraction of natural resources must be pioneering and consistent. All of these considerations place the Blue Economy at the center of a sustainable future for the world.
With all of the opportunities the oceans present for Europe comes, an even greater challenge as climate change and pollution change the physiognomy of the ecosystem. It is the EU’s responsibility to provide a strict framework of sustainable legislation and investment. As public-private partnerships in funding are strengthened and strategic funds replenished, they must be held to a high operational standard. Namely, any investment supported by the EU should work towards improving ocean conditions. There are aesthetic benefits that a clean ocean provides to tourism around the continent as well as long-term ecological benefits whose limits are yet to be fully outlined. Therefore, as acidification and littering continue to destroy natural fisheries, there must be a stronger consideration for alternative aquaculture in the EU’s framework.
Building a sustainable approach to ocean exploitation is no easy task. The European Commission and its partners across the continent are responsible for ensuring their citizens can benefit from this environmental treasure for generations to come. This issue of the European Files highlights and deepens the conversation that is driving the Blue Growth initiative.
PROMPT contributes to extending the capabilities of the ICT tool developed in the framework of the DG ECHO project Be-Ready, to (1) model the harbor and coastal circulation in the proximity of the Genoa harbor, one of the biggest ports of the Mediterranean Sea, which lay close to highly sensitive environmental areas; (2) model the dispersion of volatile substances related to oil and hazardous-noxious-substances spills in the harbor of Tripoli and Aqaba; (3) develop an algorithm for automatically detect oil spills from satellite images to provide to the decision support system a localization of the area interested by the spills; (4) develop an innovative algorithm able to track lost container in the sea; (5) and to train and transfer the knowledge that resides in the development of decision support system tool to the local operators of partners belonging to the European Neighbourhood Policy countries (Lebanon and Jordan).
Preparedness for Operational Monitoring and Prediction of contaminant Transport in the Sea.
Sectors
Thematic series
